


I Will Always Be At Your Side

by mrs_theirin



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Elf/Human Relationship(s), F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_theirin/pseuds/mrs_theirin
Summary: A relationship that's bloomed between Kallian Tabris and Alistair Theirin gets a rude awakening one cold night at camp.
Relationships: Alistair/Female Tabris (Dragon Age), Alistair/Female Warden (Dragon Age)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	I Will Always Be At Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really emotional tonight and Alistair posts on Tumblr have made me feel a certain way so here you go. This is what spawns from that.

Kallian opened her eyes, gasping. Another nightmare. She was getting tired of the archdemon. She couldn't wait for the chance to kill that thing.

Sighing, she peeked out of her tent. Nobody was outside except for Morrigan, who was sitting at her fire and cooking something. Kallian slid on a cloak and exited her tent, walking away from the camp. The air was cold and she shivered, pulling the fabric tightly around her. She didn't know where she was going. She just needed time to think.

She sat down at the side of a river, watching the water flow. Her mind began to wander along with the current, memories and thoughts swirling.

_I'm just a kid._

This whole Blight bullshit was a lot to process. Sure, it had been quite some time since she had been recruited, but it didn't make it any easier on her. All she had ever known was life in the Alienage. She was happy there, besides the times the humans would come in to harass them. She was going to marry Nelaros and live a happy, quiet life. But Nelaros was dead. Even if she quit, if she went back right now, there would be no happy, quiet life waiting for her. Her father would probably be disappointed that she had given up on a noble cause. Maker, Duncan would probably be disappointed. And Alistair...

She couldn't leave Alistair.

The two of them had established a relationship of sorts with each other. Alistair was the only human she had met (besides Duncan) that hadn't treated her like garbage. When they had met, he hadn't even looked at her twice for being an elf. Just gave her a soft smile and cracked a joke.

_You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together._

She had been fascinated with him. When she wasn't at Duncan's side, she wanted to be at his. Two humans who treated her as an equal, instead of scum beneath their feet. Then Duncan died, and Alistair needed her more than ever. To see both sides of Alistair; the fierce, determined side as they climbed the tower to light the signal, and the defeated, hopeless side while they spoke at Flemeth's hut, it was jarring to her. 

Through stories of Duncan and the Grey Wardens, the two had gotten closer. Alistair had someone he could confide in, and Kallian had someone she could lean on. They both needed each other equally, although Alistair seemed to want her to lead more than he did. It was startling at first, to be thrown into a leadership position, barely knowing what she was capable of, but she recognized Alistair just wasn't fit for it. At least not at the time. Nowadays, the two of them work as a team, no one really in a higher position than the other. She liked having that solidarity, knowing if she had to make a tough decision, someone was there to help her through it.

She never imagined it would be someone so handsome.

If someone had told her years ago she would've fallen in love with a human, she probably would've laughed softly and told them she wished humans and elves could interact like that. Now, she carried a rose from a human in her satchel at all times.

Which made it so much harder to deal with the news of him being the heir to the throne.

She was young, but she wasn't stupid. If Alistair became king, their relationship would cease to exist. He would need to produce an heir, and an elf can't be on the throne, so it would have to be with someone else. They could still be friends, but...

Kallian gasped softly as a tear fell off her chin and onto her hand. At the sight of one, several more spilled from her eyes, until she began quietly crying, shutting her eyes. It was stupid of her to feel this way. If Alistair were to become king, she would have to live with that. There's no need for a silly, stupid crush to stop him from being the leader he has to be. Still, she cried, gripping her cloak.

"Kallian?"

She shot to attention, wiping away her tears. "Alistair?" she asked, climbing to her feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you leave your tent," he said, trying to get her to look at him. "Is everything all right?"

He finally caught her eye, and it took about two moments of eye contact before she began to cry again, slouching under the weight of her fear. "No," she mumbled. "I'm scared."

"Scared?" He grabbed her hands softly, rubbing his thumbs against her skin. "Of what?"

"It's stupid, Alistair. You really shouldn't have left your tent. I can deal with this on my own."

"Well, stupid is my middle name, so I'm where I'm supposed to be. Who would I be if I wasn't making stupid decisions and making young women cry?"

This invoked a small chuckle out of Kallian as she choked. "Alistair-"

"If you don't want to tell me, don't worry about it. We can go back to camp, get some sleep, and act like it never happened. But I'd prefer if you told me now, so I can maybe help you?"

She sighed. "Alistair, what am I to you?'

This question seemed to catch him off guard, and he let go of her hands. "What are you to me?"

"Yes," she said, sitting back down, facing away from him.

She flinched as he sat down next to her, looking straight ahead. "Well, someone who knows what they're doing. You point, I'll follow."

"Is that all?"

He winced, running his hand through his hair. "Oh Maker, is this one of those trick questions? You know, Zevran warned me about women doing this, but I never-"

"Alistair," she whispered, and he stopped talking.

"Okay, yes. I'm sorry. Yes?"

"I'm starting to believe I could fall in love with you, if I haven't already."

Alistair let out a puff of air. "I'm feeling a 'but' coming."

"I have no guarantee that we'll be together."

"What do you mean?"

Now she could see out of the corner of her eye that he was staring at her intently. It looked like he was holding his breath. The sight made her tear up more, and she struggled to force words out. "If things happen the way I see them happening," she managed, trembling, "then we can't be together. Not completely."

"Why do you say that?"

"If you became king" -at this, Alistair inhaled sharply- "we couldn't be together anymore. A human and elf on the throne, it just can't be, and you would have to-"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Maker, Kallian, is this what you're crying about?" He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Wow, I really did pick the right one."

"Wha-"

"Kallian." He reached over to softly caress her cheek. "Before I even propose a relationship to you, you're panicking about it ending? We haven't even kissed..." He trailed off, laughing and shaking his head again. "I will always be at your side. No matter what happens. Either way, that is incredibly far off from where we are now. We have a kingdom to save, and you're worried about me? I...I can't even begin to express what that means to me."

"I didn't even want to bother you with this, it's ridiculous. It's a child's crush, and I-"

"Please stop making excuses when I know the truth." Their eyes met and Kallian's heart ached. "I understand how you feel. There will always be battles to fight, but it doesn't mean we would necessarily be fighting them together. I don't know if this sounds strange, but I've come to care for you too. A great deal. I think maybe it's because we've gone through so much together, I don't know. I've been thinking I was imagining it, but if you feel the same way..."

"Alistair-"

"I don't know." His eyes filled with sadness. "Maybe I'm fooling myself. Am I? Fooling myself? Or do you think you might...feel the same way about me?"

"I-I-I don't know. It's too soon to say, I-"

"Well," he said, leaning closer, his voice getting a little deeper, "is it too soon for this?"

And then he was kissing her. Alistair Theirin was kissing her. Her eyes fluttered shut, her body unconsciously gravitating towards him, wanting to be closer, wanting to feel him, to touch him, to be with him. Her head buzzed as the kiss deepened. When he finally pulled away, they stared at each other, her eyes still partially shut, her thoughts cloudy.

The first thing that fell out of her mouth was, "I don't know. I need more testing to be sure."

Alistair grinned. "Well, I'll have to arrange that then, won't I?"

"Alistair," she giggled.

He paused for a moment, staring at her with a dreamy look in his eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Maker's breath, but you're beautiful," he breathed out. "I am a lucky man."

She leaned in to kiss him again, this time climbing on top of him to straddle his legs as he sat with his legs crossed. They kissed for a while, until she pulled away to cup his face in her hands. "If you're a lucky man," she sang, "then I'm an even luckier girl."

He smiled, pulling her into a quick hug. "Kallian, my love. We'll worry about problems like that when we get there. Right now, we've got a lot of things to kill. Right _now_ now, we have sleep to catch up on. Come on, let's get back to camp. We can talk about it in the morning, okay?"

"I'd rather we didn't." She sighed, touching her forehead to his for a small affectionate bump. "Let's just pretend tonight never happened, okay?"

He grumbled a low chuckle. "I hope you mean the crying part and not the kissing, because I'd prefer to remember that."

She stared into his eyes for a moment before laughing softly. "Alistair?"

"Something you need, my dear?" He winked at her.

"I love you."

"You know what? I think I might just love you too."

Kallian giggled, gently hitting him before kissing him again. "Come on," she said, helping him to his feet. "Let's get some sleep."

"Sounds good to me."

Alistair made sure she was comfortable in her tent before saying goodnight with a soft kiss on the cheek. When he had left, she reached over and pulled the rose out of her satchel so that it would be visible when she woke up, then turned around and fell into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
